Detroit 67

The year that changed soul

Stuart Cosgrove, published by Stuart Cosgrove, 610 pages, hardback, £20

In August 1967, the Detroit police force shot dead three young black men. It was witnessed by members of The Dramatics band. The families never got justice.

Author Stuart Cosgrove couldn’t have known when he wrote about the shootings in a chapter of his new book that events in Ferguson, Missouri would provide such a clear modern-day parallel. Almost 50 years later another young black man is assassinated by a white police force.

This is the first of a trilogy of books looking at America at the end of the 1960s — and it takes you on a turbulent year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through Detroit.

The Motor City was torn apart by personal, political and racial disputes. It is the story of Motown, the breakup of The Supremes and damaging disputes at the heart of the most successful African-American music label ever.

Set against a backdrop of riots, war in Vietnam and police corruption, the book weaves its way through a year when soul music came of age and the underground counterculture flourished.

A summer of street-level rebellion turned Detroit into one of the most notorious cities on earth, known for its creativity, its unpredictability and eye-watering crime rates.

Detroit 67 is the story of the year that changed everything.

Reviews contributed by the Bookmarks socialist bookshop. Order online at www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk